Reflection
Memorial of Saint Athanasius, Bishop, and Doctor of the Church
Endurance and fortitude! This is what impressed me in today’s first reading about St. Paul and St. Barnabas’ missionary activity in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), and also in the life of St. Athanasius, whose memorial we celebrate today. Despite abuse, threats, persecution, expulsion, and exile, they continued to preach the Gospel!
Paul and Barnabas’ preaching in Antioch was so successful that “almost the whole city” came out to hear them. Some Jews in Antioch saw the crowds and were jealous. They contradicted their message, stirred up a persecution against them, and expelled them from their territory. This did not deter Paul and Barnabas. We see at the end of today’s reading that they moved on to another town: “So, they shook the dust from their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium.” (Acts 13: 51)
Three centuries later, St. Athanasius also experienced persecution and expulsion. He stood up to the Arian heresy, which taught that Jesus was not fully divine. (In today’s Gospel, Jesus explains to his disciples that He and the Father are one.) Roman emperors and some of his fellow bishops with Arian beliefs called Bishop Athanasius a troublemaker.
He was isolated and threatened; he was banished from his people in Alexandria in North Africa at least five times. He spent seventeen of the forty-six years of his episcopate in exile. Still, he endured and continued to reach out to his flock, even from exile.
Every Easter, St. Athanasius sent a letter to his people back in Alexandria. In 338 AD he wrote: “I am, as you have doubtless been told, a prey to many tribulations; I am weighed down by heavy trials; I am watched by the enemies of truth, who scrutinize everything I write, in order to rake up accusations against me and, thereby, add to my sufferings; yet notwithstanding, I feel that the Lord strengthens and consoles me in my afflictions.” Three centuries earlier, St. Paul wrote something similar from prison:
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
-Philippians 4:13
Like St. Paul and St. Athanasius, we can rely on God to strengthen us with the spiritual gift of Fortitude when discipleship is not easy, and we face resistance in ourselves or from others. And so, we pray for this gift!
